K2 ENERGY SOLUTIONS has agreed to develop an advanced rechargeable lithium battery for the US Army.
The current BB-2590 is designed to power a variety of rugged military devices, such as portable electronics, communication systems, UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and UUVs (Unmanned Underwater Vehicles). An upgraded version will allow the military to utilise the battery for a variety of "complex applications," including NLOS (Non-Line-of-Sight) missiles.
 "Our contract with the Army is to develop a high rate battery that will be capable of delivering high power for relatively short periods of time. K2 already has a great deal of experience producing such high rate batteries and our current production cells are being used in applications ranging from power tools to high performance, all-electric sports cars," K2 CTO Jim Hodge told The News. "For the Army's needs, we have modified our production cells to produce even higher power levels. Currently, the Army's NLOS system needs 18 BB-2590 batteries in parallel to meet the system's short-term power requirements. Based on development work done so far, we believe that our redesigned cells can reduce this to 3, resulting in a very significant reduction in both the size and weight of the battery array needed to power this system."
According to Hodge, the new contract will allow K2 to modify its existing lithium ion phosphat battery technology for military applications.
"Not only will this new generation of battery provide the Army with a more powerful form of portable energy, but it will be at a much lower cost than hi-grade batteries currently being deployed," added Hodge.
K2 CEO Dr. Johnnie Stoker explained that the new BB-2590 would be capable of at least 1,000 cycles.
"The duration of a lithium ion battery is typically categorised by its life cycle, which averages approximately 300-500 charges until it reaches 80 per cent capacity. Our new battery will be capable of achieving at least 1,000 cycles. Under the right control, the upgraded BB-2590 may even be able to reach 2,300 cycles. This is because the upgraded BB-2590 involves new processes, materials and clearly defined steps that improves life cycle abilities," added Stoker.
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